A recording setup almost from scratch

[Mamlö FF]

Hi

I am searching for a solution for a minimum 2ch setup. Interface, Software and so on.

I will not do any real PRO mixing at home, I just need to be able to record 2ch very good. I´ll be doing electrical guitar and bass most of the time. Drums and so on I will program or work with loops.

I already have some OK, Hi fi monitors, so althou it would be cool to have new good studio monitors I think that would break my budget.

I have 2500€ (ca $3200) to spend. I would need. Interface, Software and if possible monitors. But it is important that I get a powerful system with the possibility to track with almost NO latency !!

I have a "good" computer already. A G5 2x2GHz with 4Gb RAM. Mics, cables and stands I also already have, so that is not included in the budget.

[Kiwiburger]

I don't know about Mac audio software - I use Cubase 4 on PC, which is also available on Mac. If you are working with midi it's a good option. You also have the option of Logic (not that I support those swine since they dropped their PC users).

Honestly - PC users have much more fun (and much more stress), if you owned a PC I would suggest Reaper or Krystal or Audacity - you can use freeware and get pro results. But with a Mac you tend to pay a lot more for the same features - but with less tears because you have less options (= less opportunity to screw this up).

Whatever software you use is the least of your concern - you still need a good hardware input chain. For bass & guitars at home, I would seriously suggest you track a clean, full-range DI signal. The mix engineer can then re-amp if necessary, using good gear and good, quiet rooms & mics which you won't have available at home.

You will need a great a/d converter - 24 bits. It's hard to beat the M-Audiophile Audiophile 192 for cheap 2 channels + 2 digital inputs + midi. There are other options, Firewire if you will.

You will need a great DI box, and possibly a mic preamp. Most DI boxes reduce the stronger instrument level down to mic level, and then you need a mic preamp to take the mic level back up to line level to drive your A/D.

Some DI boxes can boost your Instrument level to Line level directly, so you don't need a mic preamp. The Avalon U5 and Telefunken V71 spring to mind. Some mic preamps have an instrument level input, so you don't need an extra DI box. That might be your best option if you also want to use a mic at any time.

Or - you can use a guitar or bass preamp to drive your A/D. These are much more colored, so you would be commiting to a sound. The first option I mentioned are just capturing a full range sound, leaving all options open for later.

For monitoring, it helps to hear an approximation of the sound you want (whether clean or distorted, wet or dry). A toy amp or processor can help - quality isn't a huge consideration if you are tracing a nice clean DI signal.

You might be better off investing your money in AC power reconditioning, if your power is noisy. The best gear in the world won't help if you are tracking 60dB of AC hum due to faulty grounding or poor AC quality.

The mix studio can turn clean DI tracks into gold. If you track with noise, or with inferior gear or digital processing, they may not be able to "polish a turd" as the saying goes.

[nowinner]

thanks for you answer.

As for the DI option I don´t think this would fit my needs.

The room were I will record Guitar and Bass (not at home) is a great sounding room. I can always borrow great mics from a friend.

So what I need for my home setup is a software that handles audio editing well and is easy to use/mix with.

To that I want to have 2ch of input (interface with preamps or seperate pre amps) that are hi quality for Guitar and Bass since that will be what I record.

It have to be a rock solid system/setup. I don´t want to think about latency or unstable performance

What I have come to understand these following programs are what I search for but I don´t know what kind of interface I should look at.

Nuendo
Cubase
Pro Tools

Any comments

[nowinner]

bump ?